The heavy rain is causing mayhem across the state with the Itanagar capital region (ICR) being the worst hit. Till now 5 people have been killed in the landslide triggered by heavy rain in the ICR region. With the met department predicting heavy rainfall in the state in the coming days, the situation is expected to turn grim. The respective district administrations along with the citizens themselves should take extra precautions keeping in mind the alert issued by the met department. The citizens should extend cooperation to the administration and temporarily shift to safer places if the administration advises them to do so.
It is also seen that the majority of landslides are human-made. The illegal earth cutting done by reckless citizens is becoming the main cause of landslides in the state and in particular in the ICR.
The National Highway 415 in between Itanagar and Hollongi has been damaged at Hollongi because of the illegal earth cutting done near the highway. Likewise, there are many other areas in ICR where highways, sectors, colony roads and other infrastructure have been severely damaged by earth-cutting. The administration keeps on issuing order after order banning such kinds of earth cuttings but no one seems to follow them. The failure of the authorities to take strict action against the violators encourages them. Everyone knows that Arunachal Pradesh witnesses heavy rainfall during monsoon and that illegal earth cutting has become a menace. It is time the state government takes serious note of it and works out a strategy to control the menace of illegal earth cutting.